Climate change implementation needs to reach the farm: What Fairtrade and farmers are demanding at COP this year
Many climate commitments have been made, but very little support has reached farmers. At this year’s “implementation”-focused UN climate Conference of the Parties (COP) event in Türkiye, Fairtrade producers are speaking up in person, and in a new position paper.
Since COP27 in 2022, Fairtrade has called for a fair and fully funded transition – away from fossil fuels and towards a carbon-neutral economy that works for everyone.
For Fairtrade farmers and workers, the challenges are clear: many demands, but too few resources. Regulations created without input. An unfair burden on those who can least afford it, and did least to create the climate crisis.
At the COP31 global climate governance event starting this week in Antalya, Türkiye, governments, companies and NGOs will be focusing on “implementation,” meaning accelerating progress from commitments to actual change.
Fairtrade asks governments and companies to properly finance, support, and include farmers
In a new position paper, Fairtrade has a clear request for companies: pay your share of the costs of adaptation, mitigation and regulatory compliance, instead of pushing them down the supply chain to smallholder farmers and workers.
According to the paper, “that means paying fair prices that support living incomes and living wages, and making long-term sourcing commitments. It also means co-investing with producer organisations through the COP31 Action Agenda, rather than running parallel programmes around them.”
For the government parties, Fairtrade’s paper outlines four demands:
1. Climate finance that producer organisations can access directly.
“Climate finance should be judged by what reaches the farm, not only by volumes pledged.” Governments should expand and simplify access for producer organisations to the various climate funds, and develop an adaptation financing baseline and milestones so that commitments are reached by 2035.
2. Regulation that does not shift compliance costs onto smallholders.
While Fairtrade supports regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive aimed at EU-based companies, some compliance burden is still falling on farmers. The UNFCCC dialogue on climate and trade should include looking at the impact of such regulations on smallholder farmers, and small and medium businesses, and developing additional measures – such as funding and technical support for farmer cooperatives, and fairer prices.
3. Living incomes and living wages at the heart of adaptation and the just transition.
The just transition mechanism agreed at COP30 must include decent livelihoods for farmers and workers. Living incomes and living wages should be explicit transition outcomes, with inclusion of women and young people, and the transition mechanism should include producer organisations in its governance.
4. Producer organisations as partners in agriculture's next phase under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Joint Work on Agriculture and Food Security that started in 2022 ends at COP31, but governments should commit to a successor mandate that recognises agroecology and diverse production systems, and gives producer organisations a formal role. Farmers should also have input on food and agriculture indicators for Global Goals on Adaptation and other initiatives, while farming communities should steer as well as benefit from agricultural carbon projects.
Weighing in on sustainable supply chains: including farmer perspectives
Fairtrade speakers will also be taking part in two COP events.
On 11 November, Vietnamese coffee farmer Duong Dai Nguyen from Fairtrade certified Ea Tan Cooperative will speak on a panel on the role of sustainability standards in building sustainable and resilient supply chains. The side event is organised by the UN Forum for Sustainability Standards (UNFSS).
With 16 years’ experience in coffee, Duong is responsible for building and safeguarding the certification systems and sustainability capacity that are important for finding international markets for his cooperative’s product. He is particularly interested in weighing in on discussions on the EUDR, as well as reduction of CO2 and agroforestry and carbon sequestration models that can generate additional farmer income.
“I am committed to bringing the on-the-ground perspective of smallholder farmers into these discussions and to identifying practical opportunities that help producer organisations like ours build climate resilience while improving farmer livelihoods,” he said.
On 13 November, the Fairtrade producer network in the Asia Pacific region, NAPP, will be represented by Iresha Sanjeewanie at the UN International Trade Centre’s high level event on empowering small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for climate-ready trade. As NAPP’s climate focal point, she joins representatives from other UN agencies, government, and the private sector to bring her expertise in working with farmers on climate-resilient agriculture and inclusive value chains that benefit both producers and their trade partners.
Including farmers, from policy to implementation
As in prior years, it is important that producer representatives will be at COP31, bringing their perspectives and participating in climate policy discussions at the highest level.
At the same time, implementation must go well beyond commitments made in meetings once a year.
“UNFCCC COP31 is a great place to get inspired and promote ideals – but the real work starts when COP ends,” says Brenda Huerta García, Fairtrade International’s Senior Advisor for Climate and Environment. “We need to make sure the implementation for fair conditions for farmers happens.”
Read the Fairtrade position paper.